


A Cautionary Tale

by Senji



Category: Elenium/Tamuli Series - David & Leigh Eddings
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 21:42:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/142018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senji/pseuds/Senji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An old knight passes on his wisdom with the aid of a cautionary tale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Cautionary Tale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KirstRavensoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirstRavensoul/gifts).



In the middle of the Thalesian winter, when the snow piles up in drifts over even the head of a troll, there is very little for a Genidian Knight to do except fight, study, drink, and tell stories. Fight in the morning to worm the blood up, study in the afternoon to warm the mind up, and beer and tales in the evening to keep them warm through the night. As a result of this legacy no Genidian is a stranger to the art of tale-spinning and their great hall is often filled with the raucous sound of tall tales measuring themselves up and fighting for the minds of their listeners.

Some voices, though, carry more weight than others; and when the eldest knight steps up to the great fire the entire hall falls silent, hanging on his quietest word. This night was towards the end of winter, and the first thaws had brought a ship into harbour with a visitor for the Preceptor, and no sooner had the Preceptor left the hall with his visitor than the eldest had started to speak.

"These last few days I've overheard some very … ugly conversations. Nothing, I assure you, I'd like to bring before the Preceptor, but I would like to make you think about it rather than responding with your prejudices.

"So, tonight I'll take you back to before most of you were born. The story starts in the far Tamuli Empire; well, no, it starts in Elenia during the succession crisis before the Last Zemoch War. I doubt many of you have seen the road to Demos, but let me introduce you to a young novice and a middle-aged squire. The novice is wearing the armour of a Pandion Knight, that of Sir Sparhawk in fact, and he wears it well; but you or I would notice the telltale signs that he's not worn it for long, and at the start of the journey they stop every few miles so that the squire can adjust it. The squire moves with the economical grace of a man who knows what he's doing. His name is Kurik, and he is Sir Sparhawk's squire; possibly the last commoner with that title ever, and of all the men I've met the one who most deserved to be knighted. But that was not to be; he saw us as empty headed men who couldn't see beyond the next ale mug or the next fight, and I can't really gainsay him about that.

"A few hours later they meet another of my friends, Sir Kalten, in an inn. But the events of that evening are a tale for another time, and a humorous lesson in what you can't do in full harness…. Suffice it to say that over the course of that trip, Kurik taught that novice many of the essentials of knighthood and became perhaps a second father to him."

The old knight paused to look around the hall under cover of taking a swig from his own tankard and, reassured that he had their eyes and ears, continued his story.

"So, back to the main part of the story, and the Tamuli Empire. I've told you tales of this war a number of times so cast your minds to the point where Sir Sparhawk's wife and Queen, Ehlana, was kidnapped by our enemy. Once again Sir Sparhawk found himself in need of a double to decoy his enemies and he detailed the same novice; now Sir Berit, Marquis of … well somewhere; to the job. Of course he also sent his new squire, Kurik's son, along as well. As far as I know the two young men had spent very little time together before this — the knight had spent a lot of time in Matherion avoiding the attentions of one of the Emperor's wives and, subsequently, even more time in those attentions — the squire had been extensively employed foiling the plot we discovered there.

"So, our two heroes took the directions that the abductors had left for Sir Sparhawk and set off on what was going to be months on horseback. I don't know what went on between them, but I gather that a strange role reversal took place; with the squire stepping partly into his father's shoes and providing Sir Berit with guidance and support for being Sir Sparhawk, and the knight providing the squire with encouragement and a sounding board for the squire's crazier ideas. They both did an excellent job really, not that you'll see that in the official history of the war. The next time I saw them was four months later; no wait, it was more like six weeks for them, there was some magic going on with time confusing things. Communications were getting a bit frayed, particularly with not all of the detachments having Pandion knights in them so we couldn't just use their spells to keep in touch. So the Pandions' Styric Goddess, Aphrael, pulled off another one of her miracles."

He paused, anticipating the response and smiling slightly at the faint sound of a flute at the back of the hall. "To be clear, I don't intend to imply that the Pandions have turned their back on our God and have started worshipping heathen Goddesses," a slightly discordant flute, "but only that she's the Goddess to whom they direct their spells. She took us all to some kind of private place of hers, it's a little bit on the pastoral side for my liking, but it's a very peaceful place, and there we had our councils of war for the next month or so.

"At the start it was very subtle. Sir Berit would look to the squire for answers, the squire was slightly more protective of Sir Berit; perhaps even more so than he was of Sir Sparhawk, his own knight. Perhaps it was the essence of that place, or perhaps it would have happened anyway but as the month went on we got used to seeing Sir Berit with his hand on his friends' leg, or them with their arms around each other's shoulders.

"Ahh, I see enlightenment has finally dawned at the back there. Your friends at the front figured it out some time ago. And, yes, Preceptor Sparhawk knew about it, afterwards at least, he was rather distracted at the time; and Sarathi knew about it. And I believe even Sir Berit's wife knows about it.

"But fundamentally," and he paused briefly, seeing the door to the Preceptor's offices opening, "you don't think Sir Sparhawk and Sarathi would have made Sir Khalad the new Preceptor of the Pandions if they thought it was a problem do you?"

And with that the old knight walked slowly across the hall to join his old friend, the new Preceptor, as the flutes played a sardonic melody.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea if this is anything like what you wanted. I hope you liked it anyway. Ulath kind of got in my head and took over...
> 
> Thanks, as always to my beta. Hopefully I'll even remember to come back and edit their name in after the reveal.


End file.
